North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is "alive and well", a top security adviser to the South's President Moon Jae-in said, downplaying rumours over Kim's health following his absence from a key anniversary.
"Our government position is firm," said Mr Moon's special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an interview with CNN on Sunday. "Kim Jong-un is alive and well."
The adviser said that Mr Kim had been staying in Wonsan - a resort town in the country's east - since 13 April, adding that "no suspicious movements have so far been detected".
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in 2018. Source: Korea Summit Press Pool
, the North's founder - the most important day in the country's political calendar.
Mr Kim has not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers' Party politburo meeting on 11 April, and the following day state media reported him inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit.
, which officials in Seoul previously poured cold water on.
"We have nothing to confirm and no special movement has been detected inside North Korea as of now," the South's presidential office said in a statement last week.
Kim Jong-un in 2012 during a mass military parade to celebrate the centenary of the birth of his grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung. Source: KCNA via KNS
Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, has reported Mr Kim was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month.
Citing an unidentified source inside the country, it said Mr Kim, who is in his mid-30s, had needed urgent treatment due to heavy smoking, obesity and fatigue.
Soon afterwards, CNN reported that Washington was "monitoring intelligence" that Mr Kim was in "grave danger" after undergoing surgery, quoting what it said was an anonymous US official.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected reports that Mr Kim was ailing but declined to state when he was last in touch with him.
A train believed to belong to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been spotted on the country's east coast since last week, satellite imagery showed. Source: Maxar Technologies
On Monday, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that Mr Kim had sent a message of thanks to workers on the giant Wonsan Kalma coastal tourism project.
It was the latest in a series of reports in recent days of statements issued or actions taken in Mr Kim's name, although none has carried any pictures of him.
Satellite images reviewed by 38North, a US-based think tank, showed a train probably belonging to Mr Kim at a station in Wonsan last week.
It cautioned that the train's presence did not "indicate anything about his health" but did "lend weight" to reports he was staying on the country's eastern coast.
Kim Jong-un reappeared with a cane after a six-week disappearance in 2014. Source: YONHAP NEWS AGENCY
Reporting from inside the isolated North is notoriously difficult, especially on anything to do with its leadership, which is among its most closely guarded secrets.
Previous absences from the public eye on Mr Kim's part have prompted speculation about his health.
In 2014 he dropped out of sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing with a cane. Days later, the South's spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.
